WARFARE: The Most Authentic War Film You’ll Ever Experience. I need to catch my breath because I just walked out of Warfare and I’m still unsettled. If you’ve been following my little movie blog, you know I’m a sucker for Alex Garland… heck, war films… heck Alex Garland War Films. But what Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (co-directed) have created here just isn’t any other entry in the genre—it’s a complete reinvention of it. That’s saying something seeing as though the world has a Saving Private Ryan, a Platoon, a Full Metal Jacket already in existence.
What Makes This Film Different
From the moment Warfare begins, you can tell this isn’t going to follow the typical Hollywood war movie formula. There’s no dramatic backstory setting up our heroes. No convenient exposition about why we’re fighting. No manufactured personal conflicts between soldiers to create “drama.” Instead, we’re dropped directly into Ramadi, Iraq on November 19, 2006, alongside a Navy SEAL platoon known as Alpha One.
The first title card sets the tone: “This film uses only their memories.” And so, apparently, everything we see is based exclusively on the testimonies of the actual soldiers who lived through this harrowing day. Mendoza himself was there as a communications officer, and he’s portrayed in the film by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (who you definitely know from “Reservation Dogs”).
Real-Time Warfare
What truly sets Warfare apart is its real-time approach. The entire 90-minute film unfolds without time jumps or cuts to different perspectives. We experience every agonizing second alongside these soldiers—from the tense surveillance at the beginning to the brutal firefight that erupts when a grenade comes crashing through their window.
The technical achievement here is stunning. Garland (fresh off his Civil War win) and create what feels like an unbroken immersion into combat. The soundscape is particularly remarkable—you hear everything from radio chatter to the deafening explosion of IEDs to the horrifying, unrelenting screams of wounded soldiers. I remember the unrelenting screams of an injured soldier… I had to look away for a moment, ground myself, and then look back at the chaotic vista unfolding on the screen.
An Ensemble That Disappears Into Their Roles
The cast is stacked with rising stars—Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, and Noah Centineo—but you’ll barely recognize them. Caked in dirt and blood, wearing combat gear and wraparound goggles, they blend together as a unit instead of standing out as individual characters. This is intentional, and it works brilliantly.
Quinn deserves special mention for his gut-wrenching performance as the wounded Sam (based on real-life Joe Hildebrand). His screams of pain continue relentlessly throughout much of the film’s second half, providing a brutal soundtrack that other war films would have faded into the background. Warfare refuses to let us escape the ugly reality of combat injuries.
What You Won’t Find Here
It is notable in what is absent in this particular film. If you’re looking for: Stirring speeches about patriotism, clever one-liners amid gunfire, clear definition of who’s good and who’s bad, a triumphant ending, any political commentary or even context… then Warfare will disappoint you. And that’s precisely what makes it so powerful. By stripping away Hollywood conventions, Mendoza and Garland create something much closer to reality. War isn’t heroic or entertaining—it’s confusing, terrifying, and often really pointless.
The Civilian Perspective
While the film primarily follows the American soldiers, some of its most impactful moments involve the Iraqi family whose home is commandeered for the operation. We see them huddled in fear in the corner of their bedroom, forced to stay silent as their house is transformed into a battleground. The film doesn’t linger on these moments, but their impact is enormous.
Even more telling is how these civilians are ultimately forgotten—both by some of the soldiers in the heat of battle and by the mission itself. When the Americans evacuate their wounded, the family is left behind in the ruins of their home. This isn’t presented as a dramatic moment or a political statement—just the cold reality of warfare.
Technical Mastery
From a filmmaking perspective, Warfare is nothing short of brilliant. The cinematography puts us right in the middle of the action without resorting to shaky-cam clichés. The editing creates a seamless experience that maintains the illusion of real-time events. And the production design transforms London filming locations into a completely convincing Iraqi town.
But it’s the sound design by Glenn Freemantle that deserves the most praise. From the softest footstep to the ear-splitting crack of gunfire, every sound is meticulously crafted to create total immersion. During one sequence featuring a military flyover “show of force”, the theater seemed to physically shake—I genuinely felt the urge to duck for cover.
Beyond Entertainment
Warfare arrives at a timely moment, with actual conflicts raging across the globe from Ukraine to Gaza. It serves as a stark reminder of what war really means beyond news headlines and political debates. By focusing on one unremarkable mission—”just a cog in the war machine,” as one reviewer put it—the film demonstrates the human cost of every military operation, however small.
What struck me most was the film’s commitment to showing the mundane reality of combat—long stretches of tense waiting punctuated by brief, chaotic violence. There’s no rhythm to the action, no satisfying narrative structure. Things just happen, often with brutal suddenness and little explanation.
Is This Anti-War or Pro-Soldier?
The beauty of Warfare is that it doesn’t feel the need to make this distinction. By showing the reality of combat without embellishment, it honors the experiences of soldiers while simultaneously illustrating the horror of war. It doesn’t judge or preach—it simply shows.
When the credits roll, displaying side-by-side photos of the real soldiers next to the actors who portrayed them, it delivers an emotional gut-punch. These weren’t characters—they were real people who endured this nightmare. Elliott Miller, played by Cosmo Jarvis in the film, lost both his leg and his voice in the incident.
Final Thoughts
Warfare isn’t an easy watch, and it certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. There’s no satisfying narrative arc, little character development, and dialogue that often consists of incomprehensible military jargon. But that’s precisely the point. War isn’t a Hollywood script—it’s confusion, chaos, and survival.
What Mendoza and Garland have created isn’t just a war film—it’s a translation of experience, an attempt to bridge the gap between those who served and the 99% of us who haven’t. In an era when fewer Americans have direct connections to military service than at any point in recent history, Warfare serves as both art and education.
If you’re willing to set aside your expectations of what a war movie should be, Warfare offers something revolutionary: an unflinching glimpse into the reality of modern combat that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. It may not be the war movie we wanted, but it’s absolutely the war movie we needed.